eating in new orleans

for our team dinner in new orleans, we went to the city’s most famous restaurant, commander’s palace. that night was one of the very, very best dining experiences of my life.

the atmosphere in the main dining room was so neat. there were birds on the walls and barely flickering bulbs in the chandeliers. i have the most amazing, smart, funny, interesting coworkers and their company was just delightful. i ate turtle soup, pumpkin salad, pecan crusted gulf fish with creamed corn and the most incredible bread pudding (the same recipe that has been used since the early 1800s). everything was just so, so delicious. i was swooning the whole time.

afterward, our waiter took us on a tour and we got to see all the different gorgeous dining rooms, the kitchen (everything is made from local ingredients and from scratch – they even have a butcher!), the wine cellar, the lush back gardens, and the patio, which was canopied by the branches of a huge, mosey cyprus tree.

it was just the most exquisitely lovely (and tasty) evening.

on tuesday night, katherine and i went to another fancy dinner (hosted by an organization that we work with often) at emeril’s delmonico restaurant (apparently emeril is a super famous chef?). that meal nearly rivaled the commander’s palace experience. we sat in a private dining room with a wall of windows overlooking a garden and ate the most magnificent five course meal with included (katherine and i shared some of our selections with each other): deep fried mac and cheese, warm dense cornbread, authentic gumbo, the most flavorful shrimp and grits in the world, delicious salad, creole chicken with bacon, melt-in-your-mouth filet minon and chocolate crème brule with berries. i have not been that (nearly painfully) stuffed since thanksgiving. it was amazing.

food, glorious food. no one does it like new orleans.